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This month has flown by and every single day has been incredibly magical. I'm not sure if I love the month of December even more because it is my birth month, or what, but I am just so happy once December 1st rolls around. Even though I am at work right now, semi-slaving away on christmas Eve, I am in such a good mood. I've brought in cookies for my fellow co-workers and we're listening to christmas music as if it were going out of style.

I'm really looking forward to tonight because I'm throwing my second annual family christmas eve party and I can't wait to see my parents, sister & her boyfriend Brandon. Once I get off work I'll be putting the finishing decorative touches for the party, creating the hors d'oeuvres and baking ugly sweater cookies. I cannot wait to eat, drink and be merry with my family while listening to even more christmas music and watching Scrooged and Christmas Vacation

I hope all of you are have a lovely christmas eve and a merry christmas day tomorrow!

Brooke and I spent Monday morning exploring one of our favourite nature reserves in town and the water was so sparkly. When I took these photo the sunshine sparkling on the water turned into glitter. It really instilled the true magic of the holidays.

Last night I celebrated my thirtieth birthday and it was by
far the best birthday I have ever had. My closest friends surrounded me in a night that I will remember forever.
We went to a local burger joint, The Chop Shop for dinner and drinks, and
indulged in an awesome coffin cake. The
night was full of lively conversations and so much love. This feeling of love
is overwhelming in such a great way. I feel insanely loved by my incredible friends because they happily jettisoned me into my
thirtieth year. And last night I was struck with feeling of greatness. There
was something beautiful and awe-inspiring about seeing them all talking,
laughing, and celebrating with me. Something that I will carry within my heart
until the day I die.

I could sit here and write about all the ways in which life
has changed for me. How I’ve learned so much, experienced so much and how
comfortable I am with who I’ve become. I could… but I won’t.

I hate photos of feet, but the story behind this one is good enough to make me break my own rule. I spent last night hanging out with my best friend, Brooke. We had some brewskies, talked up a storm and watched House of Cards (because she's been telling me about it for months now). We were lounging on the couch, when out of nowhere Brooke looks at me, and with excitement in her voice asks me if my nails are indeed painted teal. I was slightly confused as to why she would be excited about something so random until she showed me that hers were painted the exact same colour. And to make things even more oddly serendipitous, we had both painted them that colour earlier that day!

It's strange & random occurrences like this that make me realize (time and time again) that Brooke and I truly are meant to be best friends.

On Saturday I attended Boktoberfest at Bok Tower Gardens. I had been wanting to go for years now and now that I have weekends off, I was finally able to go. The weather was absolutely perfect and I enjoyed delicious bratwursts with sauerkraut, festive German music and Dogfish Punkin Head. I can't wait until next year!

The moon calls to me quite often. Up until the blood moon the other week, I had never really taken the time to photograph the celestial body. But the other morning I was up early enough to see the moon hanging silently in the sky and now I can say that I finally have...

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." - Frank Herbert

One could say I am slightly obsessed when it comes to Halloween and they would be 100% correct. There truly is something special about Halloween that makes me want to celebrate it all month long. And I will always have a deeply rooted affection for all things morbid & strange, but I refuse to recite the uber cliche and oh-so-played "everyday is Halloween" mantra.

*Those little wooden ornaments are from a Halloween tree that I've had since I was little.

It's already three days in October, one of my favourite months, and I feel incredibly happy. I have already made a list of movies I want to watch this month, books and short stories that I want to read (Dracula and E. A. Poe of course) and have purchased tickets to a local production of The Addams Family Musical. This October is going to be a great one.

I think I have finally reached a part of my life where I am not frequently reflecting on the past as much as I used to. And a part of me feels a little reminisce-y just saying that. Lately I have been focusing so much on the now, and honestly, very little on the future. Sometimes I wonder if that has anything to do with the current undulating wave of apathy that has pulsed it's way through my life. I am not really sure whence it came or why, but I feel as though my level of anxiety has decreased so I'm not complaining.

Sadly, I haven't been doing a lot of the hobbies that I used to enjoy. Reading and photography have taken a backseat in my life. I'd be lying if I said this was something that didn't occur every time school starts, but this semester I am only taking two classes and I am nowhere near as busy as when I was attending full time. So honestly I don't know why I have become so lackadaisical in terms of doing. I really need to start breaking free from this feeling, but maybe this is lack of doing is something that I need right now... a sense of calm that permeates through every fiber of my being.

Growing up, I had always envied my grandparent's vintage phone that they kept on the nightstand in their bedroom. So, when my grandfather passed away, I inherited this beautiful, still working phone. It now sits on the nightstand in my guest bedroom and holds many happy memories of my grandparent's and my childhood as well.

I've always loved the idea of using natural light in photos. The natural areas of light & dark have always intrigued me. So, when I woke up to an extra sunny morning, I knew it was time to play with some shadows.

I've spent the majority of the day cooking and baking. In some magical way it has been calming; exactly what I needed after this busy weekend filled with friends and family. My favourite recipe from today was definitely these healthy double chocolate zucchini muffins.